New Delhi: Highlighting the need for hiking the states' share of taxes, the Constitution Review Commission has recommended that the states be allowed to levy certain taxes, which were otherwise in the domain of the Centre.

The Commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachalliah, also asked the government to set up "Inter-State Trade and Commerce Commission" for eliminating trade barriers among states.

"An appropriate amendment to the Constitution on this behalf should be made to include certain taxes, now levied and collected by the Union, to be levied and collected by the states," it said.

It would be better to make a consensus list of services to be taxed by the states even if the formal taxing power was exercised by the Union, the report submitted recently to the government, said.

The report also said it might be worthwhile to provide explicit taxing power to the states on certain specified services.

"A de facto enumeration of services that can be taxed exclusively by the states should get priority from policy makers with a view to augmenting the resource pool of the states," it said, adding, "specific enumeration of services that may become amenable to taxation by the states should be made".

PTI